This invention relates to bolsters for railway car trucks and more particularly to bolsters of structural steel elements welded together.
Bolsters now in general use on railway car trucks are formed by casting. Cast steel bolsters tend to have flaws, difficult or impossible to detect by any means of inspection in common use by the foundries producing them. Flaws of the type present in these large castings are particularly detrimental to structural members, which are to serve in a fatique environment. Fatigue failures in these castings can lead to sudden and total loss of structural integrity resulting in derailment of the car in question and many others ahead and behind it in the train. There is a definite need in the rail industry for a properly welded bolster that can replace a cast bolster in an existing car which alleviates the problems associated with the fatigue conditions imposed by modern railway freight car operation and provides for an I-beam construction as the primary structural unit to permit easy inspection of the bolster.